Future-Delivery Risk in Payments: Merchant Accounts, Reserves & Underwriting UK 2026

Future-delivery risk occurs when a customer pays for goods or services before the merchant has fully delivered them.

The longer the period between payment and fulfilment — and the greater the value of undelivered customer orders — the more financial exposure an acquiring bank or payment provider may need to consider.

This can affect businesses including:

• travel companies;
• airlines;
• tour operators;
• events and ticketing businesses;
• hotels taking advance bookings;
• kitchen and bathroom companies;
• furniture and made-to-order retailers;
• home-improvement businesses;
• training and education providers;
• annual memberships;
• subscriptions;
• pre-orders;
• bespoke manufacturers; and
• other businesses collecting customer money substantially before fulfilment.

A future-delivery business is not automatically an unacceptable or “high-risk” merchant.

However, payment providers may need to understand how much customer money relates to goods or services that have not yet been supplied, because refunds or card disputes could arise if the merchant subsequently cannot fulfil those obligations.

This guide explains how future-delivery risk works, how an acquirer may assess exposure, why turnover alone can be misleading, how future delivery can affect merchant-account approval, rolling reserves and settlement, and what businesses can prepare before applying for or switching payment providers.

Quick Summary

• Future-delivery risk exists when customers pay before the merchant fully supplies the goods or services.
• The relevant risk is not simply how much the merchant processes each month.
• A provider may also consider the total value of customer payments relating to goods or services that remain unfulfilled.
• Merchant Advice Service refers to this as future-delivery exposure.
• Longer fulfilment periods can increase the period during which payment-related liabilities may remain outstanding.
• High average transaction values can make the financial exposure larger.
• Travel, ticketing, events, bespoke goods and other advance-payment models commonly create future-delivery considerations.
• Visa's current rules specifically refer to dispute exposure and collateral relating to future-service merchants.
• Mastercard's current chargeback rules contain timeframes linked to expected delivery or performance dates, including specific rules affecting certain travel-related MCCs.
• Future delivery can affect underwriting even where the merchant is established, profitable and has low historic chargebacks.
• An acquirer may request financial accounts, processing statements, booking or order data, refund information and information about outstanding customer obligations.
• Possible provider terms can include a rolling reserve, fixed reserve, delayed settlement, processing limit or other risk controls.
• These measures are provider-specific underwriting decisions rather than universal requirements.
• Taking a deposit instead of full payment can change the amount of customer money received in advance, but does not automatically remove future-delivery risk.
• Stage payments can help align payment with fulfilment where they genuinely reflect the commercial customer journey.
• A provider may want to understand peak exposure, not simply average monthly exposure.
• Seasonality can therefore matter significantly.
• Merchants switching provider should consider obligations relating to customers whose transactions were processed through the previous acquirer.
• The most useful provider comparison considers future-delivery exposure + financial strength + processing history + reserve + settlement + provider appetite.

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What Is Future-Delivery Risk in Payment Processing?

Future-delivery risk describes the payment exposure created when a merchant has received money from a customer but still has an obligation to provide some or all of the purchased goods or services.

For example:

Customer pays today → merchant receives card payment → product or service is delivered six months later.

During that six-month period, the customer's order remains outstanding.

If the merchant subsequently becomes unable to fulfil the order, customers may potentially seek refunds or raise card disputes, depending on the circumstances and applicable card-scheme rules.

The payment provider therefore needs to consider not only whether transactions are legitimate today, but what liabilities could remain after those transactions have settled.

MAS View

Future-delivery risk is fundamentally about the gap between:

money collected

and:

customer obligation fulfilled.

The larger that gap becomes — in value or time — the more important it can become during underwriting.

What Does Visa Say About Future-Service Merchants?

Visa's current acquiring rules specifically recognise future-service merchants as an area of acquiring credit risk.

Visa requires acquirers to be able to explain how they:

• assess merchant financial position;
• protect themselves against potential merchant failure;
• manage acquiring credit risk;
• determine collateral;
• manage potential dispute exposure; and
• withhold funds where necessary.

Visa's April 2026 Core Rules specifically refer to the amount of collateral maintained for potential dispute exposure, particularly for future-service merchants.

The rules also recognise that funds may be withheld where an acquirer has reason to believe a merchant may not be able to meet its Visa obligations or provide a future service.

MAS View

This is why future delivery is not simply an informal label used by payment brokers.

It is an identifiable acquiring-risk consideration within current card-scheme rules.

Why Do Acquiring Banks Care About Future Delivery?

Card payments create obligations that do not necessarily end when settlement reaches the merchant's bank account.

Consider a merchant that has collected £2 million from customers for services due to take place over the next six months.

The merchant may have successfully:

• authorised the transactions;
• captured the payments;
• received settlement; and
• paid its card-processing fees.

But it still owes customers £2 million-worth of future services.

If the business subsequently cannot provide those services, the payment ecosystem may face refunds and disputes relating to transactions that have already settled.

The acquiring bank therefore has an interest in understanding whether the merchant is financially capable of meeting its continuing customer obligations.

What Is Future-Delivery Exposure?

Merchant Advice Service uses the term future-delivery exposure to describe the value of customer payments relating to goods or services that remain unfulfilled at a particular point in time.

A simple starting calculation is:

customer money collected for goods/services not yet fulfilled = gross future-delivery exposure

This is a practical MAS framework rather than an official Visa or Mastercard calculation.

The acquiring bank may assess exposure differently and can consider other factors such as:

• refunds already made;
• customer cancellations;
• financial resources;
• insurance or other protections where relevant;
• supplier commitments;
• merchant collateral;
• historic processing performance;
• reserves;
• business assets;
• seasonality; and
• other underwriting information.

Future-Delivery Exposure Example

Consider a business processing £1 million per month.

Looking only at monthly turnover might suggest:

But the underwriting picture can be more complicated.

The merchant processes £1 million per month.

Its outstanding customer obligations in this simplified example are £2.4 million.

Those are different figures.

MAS View

Monthly turnover tells you how much is being processed.

Future-delivery exposure tells you how much customer value may still need to be fulfilled.

For some merchants, the second number is more important to underwriting than the first.

How Can a Merchant Calculate Future-Delivery Exposure?

There is no single universal acquiring formula that every provider uses.

However, businesses can make the underwriting conversation much easier by being able to produce a clear outstanding-order position.

A useful internal report might include:

This can provide a much clearer picture than simply telling an underwriter:

“We process £500,000 per month.”

Why Does the Fulfilment Period Matter?

The amount of time between payment and delivery can materially change the acquiring picture.

Consider two merchants processing identical values.

The monthly processing figure is identical.

The period during which customers are waiting for fulfilment is not.

Merchant B could potentially accumulate substantially more outstanding customer obligations over time.

What Does Mastercard Say About Future Delivery and Chargebacks?

Mastercard's current Merchant Chargeback Guide contains dispute timeframes linked to when goods or services were expected to be delivered or performed.

For certain merchant categories, including:

• airlines;
• car rental;
• cruise lines;
• hotels and lodging;
• ticket agencies;
• travel agencies; and
• tour operators,

Mastercard's rules contain specific timing provisions linked to the anticipated delivery or performance date.

The precise chargeback timeframe depends on the transaction and applicable rules, so merchants should not treat one generic number as applying to every card dispute.

MAS View

This helps explain why an acquirer can remain interested in a transaction long after the merchant has received settlement.

The service date can matter as well as the payment date.

Which Businesses Have Future-Delivery Risk?

Future delivery is not limited to one Merchant Category Code or one industry.

Any business collecting payment before fulfilment can potentially create it.

Travel

A customer may pay for a holiday, flight, cruise or tour many months before travelling.

Travel providers can therefore have large volumes of customer funds linked to future departure dates.

Read our Merchant Accounts for Travel Agents guide.

Events and Ticketing

Tickets can be sold long before an event takes place.

A successful event business may therefore hold substantial customer obligations for several future dates at once.

Kitchens, Bathrooms and Home Improvements

Customers may pay:

• an initial deposit;
• further stage payments; and
• a final balance

during a project lasting several weeks or months.

Individual transaction values can also be high.

Our Kitchen & Bathroom Showroom Payments guide explains how deposits, project lead times, reserves and settlement can interact.

Furniture and Bespoke Goods

Made-to-order products can require payment before manufacture, delivery or installation.

Lead times can potentially extend for several months.

Annual Memberships

A business collecting an annual membership payment may still owe the customer access or services over the remaining membership period.

The payment model, cancellation terms and nature of the membership all matter.

Subscriptions

Not every subscription creates significant future-delivery exposure.

A merchant charging monthly for a service delivered during the same month may present a very different profile from a business collecting twelve months of payments in advance.

For the wider payment requirements, read our Subscription Payment Processing guide.

Education, Courses and Training

A customer may pay for a programme before tuition has been fully delivered.

Pre-Orders

A merchant can collect money for products that have not yet been manufactured, released or shipped.

Hotels

Hotels can take:

• advance bookings;
• deposits;
• prepayments;
• event payments;
• wedding payments; and
• conference payments.

The exposure depends on how and when payment is collected relative to the stay or event.

Does Future Delivery Automatically Make a Merchant High Risk?

No.

Future delivery is one component of merchant risk.

A provider may also consider:

• Merchant Category Code;
• business sector;
• years trading;
• financial strength;
• processing history;
• chargebacks;
• refunds;
• fraud;
• transaction values;
• customer geography;
• regulatory requirements;
• payment channels;
• technical setup; and
• provider risk appetite.

Two future-delivery businesses can therefore receive very different underwriting outcomes.

For example:

Both merchants take payment in advance.

The acquiring profiles are considerably different.

For more detail, read our High-Risk vs Low-Risk Merchant Accounts guide.

Does Merchant Category Code Determine Future-Delivery Risk?

No.

MCC identifies the type of business or activity being processed.

It does not tell the provider:

• how far in advance a particular merchant takes payment;
• how much money is outstanding;
• how strong the company is financially;
• how many customers cancel;
• how many disputes occur; or
• how long fulfilment actually takes.

Certain MCCs can alert a provider to common business characteristics, but the actual merchant profile still matters.

Our Merchant Category Codes (MCC) guide explains why MCC is a classification signal rather than a complete merchant risk score.

MAS View

MCC tells the provider what you do.

Future-delivery data tells the provider how much customer obligation is still outstanding.

They answer different questions.

Can Future Delivery Cause a Merchant Account Application to Be Declined?

Potentially.

A provider may decide that the future financial exposure sits outside its current risk appetite.

However, a decline can also occur because the application does not explain the exposure clearly enough.

An underwriter may need to understand:

• how much customers pay in advance;
• when they pay;
• when delivery occurs;
• maximum outstanding exposure;
• seasonality;
• historic cancellations;
• refunds;
• chargebacks;
• company financial strength;
• supplier relationships;
• relevant protection arrangements;
• previous processing performance; and
• how exposure changes through the year.

If that information is missing, the provider may have difficulty quantifying the acquiring risk.

Our Merchant Account Declined guide explains why provider fit should be established before repeatedly submitting applications.

What Did Our Merchant Onboarding Research Find About Provider Fit?

The MerchantRoute Merchant Onboarding Study 2026, published by Merchant Advice Service, asked 25 payments-industry participants about merchant application and onboarding.

41% of respondents identified poor provider or risk fit as a contributor to merchant-account declines.

This matters for future-delivery merchants because not every payment provider has the same appetite for:

• travel;
• ticketing;
• large advance deposits;
• long fulfilment periods;
• high-value bespoke goods; or
• other future-service models.

MAS View

Future-delivery exposure should be understood before provider selection.

Otherwise, a merchant can spend time completing an application only to discover that the proposed acquiring route was never well suited to its business model.

Can Future Delivery Lead to a Rolling Reserve?

Yes, potentially.

A rolling reserve is one mechanism an acquirer or payment provider can use to manage potential future payment liabilities.

For example:

merchant processes £500,000 → agreed reserve percentage is retained → remaining eligible funds settle → retained amounts are subsequently released according to the merchant agreement.

A provider may consider a reserve where future-delivery exposure forms part of the acquiring risk.

However, a reserve is not automatic.

The provider could potentially:

• require no reserve;
• require a rolling reserve;
• require a fixed reserve;
• delay settlement;
• set processing limits;
• apply another form of collateral or risk control; or
• decline the application.

The outcome depends on underwriting and the merchant agreement.

Read our Merchant Account Rolling Reserves guide for more detail.

Does a Reserve Eliminate Future-Delivery Risk?

No.

A reserve can help reduce an acquirer's financial exposure but does not make the underlying customer obligation disappear.

For example:

The reserve may provide £300,000 of risk mitigation.

It does not mean the merchant no longer has £2 million of outstanding customer commitments.

An underwriter may therefore assess the reserve alongside the merchant's broader financial position and exposure.

Can Future Delivery Affect Settlement Times?

Potentially.

Payment providers can apply different settlement structures according to the merchant and acquiring arrangement.

For example, an offer might include:

• next-working-day settlement;
• T+2 settlement;
• longer settlement;
• delayed settlement;
• rolling reserve;
• another funds-hold structure; or
• a combination of controls.

Visa's acquiring-risk standards recognise that settlement can be subject to applicable withholding and mandated holding periods, including those relevant to future-service merchants.

MAS View

A future-delivery merchant should compare:

processing cost + settlement + reserve + total working-capital impact.

The cheapest headline card rate may not produce the best commercial outcome.

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Do Deposits Reduce Future-Delivery Risk?

They can reduce the amount collected in advance compared with taking full payment upfront, all else being equal.

But taking a deposit does not automatically remove future-delivery risk.

For example:

The second structure involves less customer money being collected at the start.

However, the provider may still need to understand:

• when later payments are collected;
• what percentage of the project is complete at each stage;
• whether deposits are refundable;
• the customer's contractual rights;
• how many outstanding projects exist; and
• the total value of all deposits across the customer book.

Can Stage Payments Reduce Future-Delivery Exposure?

Potentially, where stage payments genuinely correspond with commercial or fulfilment milestones.

For example:

deposit → production milestone → delivery → installation/final completion

can create a different exposure profile from:

100% payment → six-month wait → delivery.

But merchants should not redesign genuine customer-payment terms simply to disguise acquiring exposure.

The provider needs an accurate picture of how the business operates.

MAS View

Good underwriting information reflects the real customer journey.

The objective is not to make future-delivery exposure look smaller.

The objective is to measure it accurately.

Does Taking Payment Later Reduce Future-Delivery Exposure?

Potentially.

If a merchant collects payment closer to fulfilment, the period between payment and delivery becomes shorter.

However, whether this is commercially appropriate depends on:

• supplier payment terms;
• manufacturing costs;
• customer contracts;
• cancellation risk;
• working-capital requirements;
• sector rules; and
• the genuine economics of the business.

A merchant should not change its commercial model solely to obtain a different underwriting result without considering the wider consequences.

Why Does Seasonality Matter?

Future-delivery exposure can change substantially during the year.

A travel company could receive most summer-holiday bookings during winter and spring.

An events business could sell a large proportion of tickets months before a festival.

A retailer might accept significant pre-orders ahead of a launch.

Looking only at an average monthly number can therefore understate peak exposure.

Example

The annual average does not show the £4.1 million peak.

MAS View

For seasonal merchants, calculate:

average exposure + peak exposure.

An underwriter may care about both.

Does Business Growth Increase Future-Delivery Risk?

It can.

Rapid growth can increase customer obligations faster than historic processing data suggests.

For example:

merchant previously processes £200,000 per month → successful campaign increases sales to £800,000 per month → fulfilment still takes four months.

The provider may need to understand:

• whether the increase is temporary or permanent;
• whether operational capacity has increased;
• whether suppliers can support demand;
• whether fulfilment times will lengthen;
• how much new customer exposure is accumulating;
• whether working capital remains sufficient;
• whether refund volumes are changing; and
• whether existing processing limits remain appropriate.

Can a Financially Strong Business Still Have Future-Delivery Controls?

Yes.

Financial strength can be an important positive underwriting factor, but it does not mean future customer obligations cease to exist.

An acquirer may therefore look at both:

exposure

and:

the merchant's capacity to support that exposure.

A financially strong business with substantial outstanding customer obligations can therefore receive different terms from a financially weaker business with the same turnover.

What Financial Information Might an Acquirer Request?

The exact requirements vary.

Depending on the merchant, a provider may request information including:

• filed accounts;
• management accounts;
• bank statements;
• cash-flow information;
• balance-sheet information;
• processing statements;
• refund data;
• chargeback data;
• booking or order reports;
• outstanding customer liability information;
• supplier information;
• insurance where relevant;
• sector licences or registrations; and
• other evidence relevant to the business.

More complex applications can therefore take longer to underwrite than a straightforward merchant with immediate fulfilment.

See our High-Risk Merchant Account Applications guide for information that merchants can prepare before applying.

What Should a Future-Delivery Merchant Put in an Application?

Do not simply state:

“We process £1 million per month.”

Where relevant, give the underwriter enough information to understand how that processing relates to fulfilment.

Useful information can include:

• monthly card turnover;
• annual card turnover;
• average transaction value;
• maximum transaction value;
• deposit percentage;
• stage-payment structure;
• average time between payment and fulfilment;
• maximum normal fulfilment period;
• current unfulfilled-order value;
• peak unfulfilled-order value;
• historic refunds;
• chargebacks;
• financial information;
• years trading;
• processing statements;
• relevant sector protections or licensing;
• supplier arrangements; and
• any existing reserve or settlement terms.

MAS View

A good future-delivery application answers three questions:

How much customer money is outstanding?

How long is it outstanding for?

What supports the merchant's ability to fulfil or refund those obligations?

How Should a Travel Merchant Present Future-Delivery Exposure?

Travel businesses are a particularly clear example because bookings can involve long lead times and significant transaction values.

A useful underwriting pack may include:

• monthly bookings;
• departure-date profile;
• total forward bookings;
• customer money collected;
• amount already paid to suppliers;
• refund and cancellation information;
• historic chargebacks;
• financial accounts;
• relevant licensing or protection information;
• average booking value;
• maximum booking value; and
• seasonal exposure.

The exact information required remains provider-specific.

For more detail, see our Travel Merchant Accounts guide.

What Happens to Future-Delivery Exposure When Switching Payment Providers?

This is easy to overlook.

Changing acquirer does not instantly remove customer obligations attached to transactions processed through the previous provider.

A merchant could therefore reach a point where:

• new transactions are processing through Provider B;
• customers from Provider A transactions are still awaiting fulfilment;
• Provider A continues to hold a reserve;
• Provider B applies its own underwriting terms; and
• the merchant must fund normal operations at the same time.

This can create a significant working-capital transition.

MAS View

When moving a future-delivery portfolio, map:

old-provider exposure + old reserve + new-provider terms + outstanding customer obligations.

Do this before migrating processing volume.

Can a New Provider Take Over the Old Provider's Future-Delivery Risk?

Do not assume so.

The new provider will decide which transactions it processes and what acquiring exposure it accepts under its own agreement.

Historic customer transactions may remain relevant to the previous acquiring relationship.

The precise position depends on the provider agreements and circumstances.

Merchants should establish:

• what happens to the old reserve;
• when old reserve funds are released;
• which provider handles refunds for historic transactions;
• how historic disputes are managed;
• how new bookings are routed;
• when processing switches; and
• how reconciliation distinguishes the two providers.

Can Future Delivery Affect Provider Pricing?

Potentially.

Provider underwriting and commercial terms can reflect the overall merchant profile.

Relevant differences between offers may include:

• processing margin;
• gateway fees;
• rolling reserve;
• fixed reserve;
• settlement timetable;
• processing cap;
• chargeback fees;
• contract term;
• FX;
• international acquiring; and
• other commercial conditions.

This means the lowest transaction percentage is not necessarily the best offer.

For wider pricing analysis, see our UK Merchant Fees Benchmark 2026.

Can a Merchant Reduce Future-Delivery Risk?

Future delivery is often inherent in the business model, so the objective is not necessarily to eliminate it.

However, merchants can make the exposure easier to understand and manage.

Depending on the genuine commercial model, this may include:

• accurately tracking outstanding customer obligations;
• monitoring exposure by fulfilment month;
• tracking peak seasonal exposure;
• maintaining adequate working capital;
• keeping refunds up to date;
• reducing avoidable fulfilment delays;
• maintaining clear cancellation terms;
• improving customer communication;
• using genuine stage-payment structures where appropriate;
• monitoring supplier dependency;
• keeping processing statements and dispute data available;
• maintaining accurate forecasting; and
• telling the provider before significant changes to processing or business activity where required.

MAS View

The aim is not:

“How can we hide future-delivery risk from underwriting?”

It is:

“How can we measure it, explain it and show how the business manages it?”

The MAS Future-Delivery Exposure Test

Merchant Advice Service would look at future delivery across six areas when considering provider fit.

1. Value

How much customer money relates to goods or services that remain undelivered?

2. Time

How long is the average and maximum period between payment and fulfilment?

3. Peak Exposure

How large can outstanding customer obligations become during seasonal or growth periods?

4. Financial Capacity

What evidence supports the merchant's ability to fulfil customers or manage refunds and disputes?

5. Processing Performance

What do historic processing statements show about:

• refunds;
• chargebacks;
• fraud;
• transaction values; and
• volume?

6. Provider Fit

Which acquiring providers currently support that combination of:

• sector;
• MCC;
• future delivery;
• transaction values;
• financial profile;
• processing history;
• geography; and
• technical requirements?

MAS View

Value → Time → Peak → Financial Capacity → Processing Performance → Provider Fit.

That gives a much more useful picture than simply labelling a merchant “high risk”.

How Should Future-Delivery Merchants Compare Payment Providers?

Start with providers that can genuinely support the business model.

Then compare the complete offer.

Our Compare UK Payment Providers guide explains the wider factors established businesses should review before changing provider.

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How Merchant Advice Service Helps Future-Delivery Businesses

Merchant Advice Service helps businesses understand their payment requirements and identify potentially relevant payment-provider routes.

For a merchant taking significant payments in advance, this can include considering:

• business sector;
• Merchant Category Code;
• monthly processing volume;
• annual processing volume;
• average transaction value;
• maximum transaction value;
• deposit structure;
• stage payments;
• average fulfilment period;
• maximum fulfilment period;
• current future-delivery exposure;
• peak future-delivery exposure;
• historic processing;
• refunds;
• chargebacks;
• financial position;
• provider risk appetite;
• reserve requirements;
• settlement;
• gateway requirements;
• API or platform integration;
• international acquiring;
• currencies; and
• future growth plans.

Merchant Advice Service does not make merchant-account underwriting decisions and cannot guarantee that a provider will accept a particular level of future-delivery exposure.

The relevant payment provider remains responsible for:

• underwriting;
• approval;
• pricing;
• reserve requirements;
• settlement;
• processing limits;
• risk review; and
• final contractual terms.

The purpose of provider matching is to establish which acquiring routes may be appropriate before the merchant submits an application.

Explore The Payments Directory® or read How Merchant Advice Service Works.

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Sources & Further Reading

Visa — Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules

Visa's April 2026 public rules include current acquiring-risk requirements covering underwriting, financial assessment, collateral, dispute exposure and future-service merchants.

Visa specifically requires acquirers to be able to provide details of collateral maintained for potential dispute exposure, particularly for future-service merchants, and information about processes for withholding funds where a merchant may be unable to provide a future service.

Visa — Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules

Visa — Visa Acceptance Risk Standards

Visa's acquiring-risk standards provide additional information covering merchant agreements, settlement, merchant reserve funds, merchant credit risk and settlement controls affecting future-service merchants.

Visa — Visa Acceptance Risk Standards

Mastercard — Chargeback Guide, Merchant Edition

Mastercard's January 2026 Merchant Chargeback Guide sets out current dispute rules and timeframes, including provisions based on expected delivery or performance dates and specific treatment for merchant categories including airlines, cruises, hotels, ticket agencies, travel agencies and tour operators.

Mastercard — Chargeback Guide, Merchant Edition

Mastercard — Rules and Compliance Programmes

Mastercard publishes its current merchant rules, transaction-processing rules, security requirements and merchant chargeback guidance through its UK rules and compliance resource.

Mastercard UK — Rules and Compliance Programmes

MerchantRoute Merchant Onboarding Study 2026

Merchant Advice Service published the MerchantRoute Merchant Onboarding Study 2026 based on responses from 25 payments-industry participants. The study found that 41% of respondents identified poor provider or risk fit as a contributor to merchant-account declines.

MerchantRoute Merchant Onboarding Study 2026

Related Merchant Advice Service Guidance

• Merchant Account Rolling Reserves: UK Guide
• High-Risk vs Low-Risk Merchant Accounts
• Why Do Merchant Account Applications Get Declined?
• Merchant Category Codes (MCC): UK Guide & High-Risk MCC List 2026
• High-Risk Merchant Account Applications for UK & EU Businesses
• Merchant Accounts for Travel Agents
• Kitchen & Bathroom Showroom Payments
• Subscription Payment Processing
• Compare UK Payment Providers
• The Payments Directory®
• UK Merchant Account Application & Onboarding Study 2026
• How Merchant Advice Service Works
• Research & Data
• Research & Comparison Methodology

Editorial & Commercial Disclosure

Merchant Advice Service is an independent payments information, comparison and provider-matching service.

MAS may receive commission or a referral fee from some payment providers where a business chooses to proceed following an introduction. This does not determine the factual information about future-service merchants, acquiring risk or card-scheme requirements contained within this guide.

Merchant Advice Service is not Visa, Mastercard, an acquiring bank or payment processor and does not determine an individual merchant's future-delivery exposure for underwriting purposes.

The future-delivery exposure calculations and examples in this guide are Merchant Advice Service explanatory frameworks designed to help businesses understand the concept. They are not official Visa or Mastercard underwriting formulas and should not be treated as a provider's calculation of acquiring exposure.

Payment providers and acquiring banks can use different underwriting methods and may consider financial information, collateral, reserves, transaction data and other factors not included within the simplified examples above.

Reference to a particular sector does not mean that every merchant in that sector will require specialist underwriting, a reserve or delayed settlement.

Card-scheme rules and provider requirements can change. Businesses should confirm current requirements with their payment provider and review the applicable merchant agreement.

Card-scheme and future-service information last checked: 1 September 2026.

This guide provides general payments information and should not be treated as legal, regulatory, accounting, financial or formal compliance advice.